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The Spanish Grand Prix isn't quite the development frenzy it used to be, given it's no longer Formula 1's first European race of the year.
But two of F1 2024's frontrunners have still brought significant packages to Barcelona, as Mark Hughes explains...
Red Bull
Red Bull has further revised the geometry of its radiator inlets to induce a higher pressure of air being fed there, to minimise the area of aerodynamically damaging outlet louvres.
This has brought with it a change to the engine cover side panels and even to the floor to match the new bodywork.
The span of the lower beam wing has been expanded to merge into a new endplate geometry, which should give more load from the beam wing itself.
In order to incorporate this change the lower part of the main wing’s endplates have been moved outboard.
Ferrari
Ferrari has introduced a new high downforce rear wing and beam wing offering what it claims is a wider range of effectiveness in the transient state, when the car is in yaw.
The sidepod undercut and the coke bottle cut-away at the rear have both been enhanced with the aim of increasing downforce at the rear of the car and the floor fences at the tunnel inlet have been suitably re-aligned to fully exploit this.
The roof of the floor itself has been lowered at the front to enhance the effect. The new floor also incorporates a new shape central ‘canoe’ section between the tunnels, revised floor edges and a new diffuser geometry.
Aston Martin
The AMR24's front suspension fairings have been modified to give a better airflow interaction with the flow exiting the redesigned brake duct. There are also slight changes to the aero devices on the rear brake ducts to increase local load.
RB
There is a new engine cover/upper sidepod profile to improve flow to the rear wing and this has involved reshaping the radiator inlet leading edge.
This is all part of a package which has involved a new floor, with changes made to the height of the forward part of the floor and to the alignment and geometry of the tunnel inlet fences.
A new rear wing to maximise efficiency at the sort of downforce levels used for Barcelona and similar tracks.
Sauber
A new rear wing which more fully integrates with the switch to the single pylon layout change that was made two races ago.
There are also updated front brake ducts for a better aero/cooling trade-off.
Haas
There is a new winglet atop the rear impact structure.
No updates reported: Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Alpine
